learned a lot from you and thank you very much and want to thank steven for helping us out tonight from new york. good night, america. >> chris: next, the president taps the jobs numbers as a sign of mick recovery and new procedures for people flying to the u.s. and keeping an eye on iran from a symbol of american military might. live from our studio in washington, this is special report. good evening i'm chris wallace, the government released the latest unemployment numbers which experts say indicate the job market is starting to heal. major garrett reports, the president praised those results and a -- at a factory that added jobs, paid for with your tax dollars. >> reporter: as president obama landed in north carolina, the state republican party reminded him today's improved job news had a broader and not so happy context, in,'s unemployment rate is 11.2% up from 9.2% when

mr. obama took office and though the nation added 162,000 jobs in march, the tarheel state lost more than 90,000 jobs during the obama presidency. he toured a company that makes components for lithium batteries and is adding 300 jobs, due to stimulus financing, an example of private sector job growth, fueled by tax dollars. >> president barack obama: today is an encouraging day we learned the economy actually produce aid substantial number of jobs instead of losing a substantial number of jobs. [applause]. >> reporter: the president said march's job gains, the biggest in three years signal the economy began to turn the corner and also the first time, monthly private sector job growth topped 100,000 and out-paced government jobs gains and even so the federal government added 48,000 jobs, all temporary hires to conduct the census and most economists predicted gains of 200,000 and somewhat encouraged, the white house economist said the labor market remains,

severely distressed . >> to get numbers like we see now is a major, major turn around but we have to go farther to get the unemployment rate down and the president is firmly committed to that. >> reporter: among the biggest white house concerns, long term unemployment. a record 44.1% of jobless americans have been out of work for more than 6 months. the average lengths of joblessness is now, 31 weeks. >> blue-collar workers, salt of the earth mention, where the struggle is. >> reporter: where did the economy grow? 43,000 new jobs 3:5% of the private sector job gains, were concentrated in the leisure, hospitality and retail sectors, the lowest paying automotive of classification and jobs through in health care, 36,700 and construction up 15,000 jobs and economists said these gains suggest more consumer confidence. >> i think most firms will go out there and buy more equipment and hire more coworkers. -- workers.

>> reporter: buried in the report were revisions, of 26,000 jobs lost was revised to 14,000 gained and in february 36,000 jobs lost and it was revised to 13,000 and the three month trend is decidedly optimistic the white house says and it may be true but is worth remembering when congress debated the stimulus the white house predicted an unemployment rate now of 7.5%, not 9.7%, which currently exists. chris? >> chris: major garrett, reporting from the white house, thanks for that. the screening policy for travellers flying to the u.s. inspired by the christmas day bombing attempt is on the way out. caroline shivley tell us what will replace it. >> reporter: the obama administration is making major changes in security screenings, for passengers, flying to the u.s. moving from a system based on your home country to one based on threats and that means the u.s. gets a tip it should be on the lookout for a terrorist fitting a certain description or background. and, then any u.s. bound flyer

fitting the profile gets extra pat downs and checks before being allowed on the plan and the head of homeland security says this is a better system. >> it is a more information based way to screen and stronger way to determine whether passengers should go through second terry examination, and not just primary examination. >> reporter: for example, if the system was in place before the attempted christmas day underwear bombing, u.s. officials passed on information they were searching for a muslim man from nigeria who traveled to yemen, umar farouk abdulmutallab, could possibly have been flagged and a former head of u.s. customs and border protection says it is a way to paint a picture for analysts to examine. >> all of these pieces of information are put together and looked at and analyzed, collectively, to make that determination, as to whether that person poses a threat. >> reporter: the new method is expected to greatly reduce the number of extra screenings that were performed under a recent emergency order. from the christmas day bombing attempt until now, any passenger from or traveling through 14

mainly muslim countries went through extra security measures. >> that is an improvement over emergency order, which was really a gross generalization and was overbroad. it is -- its intelligence focused scrutiny which is good. >> reporter: there are potential problems with the system. the u.s. has no authority over the screening process, at airports in foreign countries, and, if they ignore it all the u.s. can do is fine them or ban them from running future flights to the u.s. and most countries don't have a version of the u.s.'s transportation security administration. it is the airlines doing the screening and you have specific sensitive information going out to thousands of foreign airlines workers. >> we discovered this in the u.s., when we tried to give intelligence to law enforcement. you are giving it to thousands of local law enforcement agencies, and it leaks. and often pretty quickly. >> reporter: further complicating efforts the tsa is coordinating the system with the

foreign counterparts without a permanent agency head and the president's second nominee for the position pulled out of the rungs last week. chris? >> chris: caroline, thanks for that. and another change will allow pilots on medication for depression to continue to fly. the faa says the idea behind the new policy is to get pilots who are now being treated secretly to disclose their condition. the agency says research indicates many of the drugs do not have serious side effects. and an american woman detained last month in ireland, for alleged delay plotting to kill a swedish cartoonist was arrested again today, in philadelphia. jamie paul lynn ramirez, joan as jihad jamie is accused of terrorism related conspiracy in colorado and concern over possible domestic terrorism has authorities paying attention, to the kind of odd communications many public officials get, once in a while. and national correspondent steve centanni has the latest example. >> reporter: in state capitals

across the country police are investigating letters manned their governors -- demanding their governors leave office within three days or be removed. at least two states beefed up security, even though they say they are not overly worried. the louisiana governor, bobby jindal got the letter, but the police spokesman in baton rouge said not a credible threat to the governor or the people of louisiana and jennifer granholm got the letter five days ago which renders the three day deadline in the letter meaningless and the fbi warned the governors the letters were come and to turn them over to police and and fbi official down played the threat. >> we obviously look at these things and determine whether or not there is actually a threat, contained in the letter. and, in this case, if there -- it does not appear to be a threat and it is more an expression, really of first amendment rights. >> reporter: the letters came

from an anti-government group, the guardians of the free republics which advocates peacefully altering the government doing away with taxes, foreclosures and drivers licenses among other things and the self-proclaimed guardins do not profess violence, the fbi is worried the letters could provoke others to act. and the fbi and homeland security warn law enforcement should be aware this could be interpreted as a justification for violence or other criminal actions. and the letter comes after the arrest of nine members of a so-called christian militia. authorities believe were plotting violence. >> reporter: the fringe elements are not prone to grow big or get substantive and we have law enforcement to deal with it and a good civil society and people recognize we may differ politically. >> reporter: and the homeland security chief said again last month there is this ever present danger of a lone wolf or homegrown terrorists. >> we have seen changes in the terrorism environment, over the

last month and one significant change is that we are now seeing americans, u.s. citizens, who themselves have become radicalized to the extent of wanting to commit violence. >> reporter: the fbi describes the sender of the letters as quote a sovereign citizen's extremist group, referring to those who believe they are free from all the duties of the u.s. citizens and they say they -- all 50 governors could eventually get the letters. chris. >> chris: these are things to worry about. >> reporter: always something. >> chris: thank you. >> reporter: you bet. >> chris: a judge in detroit ordered 8 of the suspected members of the christian militia group steve mentioned be held in jail, until their trial. and they were arrested last weekend. authorities say they plan to kill a law enforcement officer, then set off a bomb, at the funeral. the judge says prosecutors provided the court with very disturbing information. joe biden's now famous comment about health care legislation is a money maker.

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>> chris: the white house says it is consulting with china about tougher sanctions against iran. and press secretary robert gibbs says the administration is pleased with a -- the progress so far, and president obama spoke with chinese president hu jintao by phone this week, and he's scheduled to scheduled to attend a security summit in washington later this month and mr. obama said today he's confident he can get u.s. allies, on board. >> president barack obama: we don't take any options off the table and we'll continue to ratchet up the pressure and examine how they respond. but we're going to do so with a unified international community, that puts us in a much stronger position. >> chris: iran's nuclear capability is the top american concern, there are also worries

about its conventional weapons. the u.s. navy is a powerful deterrent, and, correspondents greg burke reports, from aboard the uss eisenhower. >> reporter: long range missile tests, locally manufactured naval destroyers, and just this week a cruise missile production line. iran is working hard, to project the regime's growing military prowess. tehran's saber rattling is likely aimed at discouraging a strike against its nuclear research facilities but also is making neighbors in the arabian gulf snervous and they sent missile batteries to u.s.